Penguin Pyjamas
by LaraCroftTR65
Summary: Little five year old Lara Croft and her first find. Based on the conversation between Lara and Roth in Tomb Raider, when he says he remembers her running up to him in her penguin pyjamas with a necklace she found.


Little five year old Lara Croft crept from her bed in the dark of night. She heard voices, talking in hushed whispers, floating upstairs from the main hall, and she had decided to investigate.

She clutched her tiny blue blanket closer to her chest, squeezing it tightly in her small fist as she silently crept towards the top of the stairs.

Shadows moved across the wall in front of her and Lara felt her heart flutter. She swallowed slowly and pulled her blanket up to her face, rubbing the soft material against her cheek comfortingly.

Bravely, she took another step forward and peered over the banister. From up here, she could see her father and his best friend, Conrad Roth, talking in the hallway, the front door hanging wide open.

'Father?' Lara called sleepily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

'Lara,' he exclaimed, turning to face his only child. 'What are you doing up?' he smiled coyly at her.

'I heard voices,' Lara explained.

'Ah, she's a Croft, all right,' Roth grinned. 'She's got the spirit of adventure already, Richard.'

'Oh, I know that, Conrad. Trust me,' Lord Croft laughed, glancing up to his daughter, who stood gripping her tiny blanket.

'Lara, go back to bed, darling,' Lord Croft said soothingly, but Lara's curiosity had been piqued.

'Where are you going?' she asked.

'To a dig,' he told her.

'Can I come?' Lara jumped up excitedly.

'No, Lara. You stay here with mother.'

'Please? Please, please, please, please, please?' Lara begged, jumping up and down. Her little eyes looked pleadingly at her father, and her bottom lip jutted out slightly, giving her a look that was hard to say no to.

'Awk, let her come, Croft. You know she'll end up tagging along anyway,' Roth laughed, nodding towards Lara.

Richard sighed and smiled.

'Okay,' he conceded. 'Come on, Lara.'

'Yay!' Lara bounced happily down the stairs, still in her little white penguin pyjamas, clutching her tiny blue blanket.

Conrad grabbed Lara as she ran past and hoisted her onto his shoulders as she shrieked and then giggled delightedly.

'Shh,' Lord Croft scolded them, laughing along at the same time. 'You'll wake Amelia, Roth, and then we'll both be for it.'

'Let's not do that, eh, Lara?' Roth whispered to Lara.

She bit her lip and nodded silently back, grinning.

Roth bundled Lara into the back of the car, tucking her blanket around her while Lord Croft packed the last of their equipment into the back.

They drove for about twenty minutes, through all the winding country roads, lined with majestic, mystical forests. The trees cast shadows that seemed to dance gracefully in the pale moonlight, moving together in an ancient tribal dance. The wind blew gently through the trees, whispering the ancient song that the shadows danced to. There was an air of mystery and magic surrounding every inch of the forest, so intense that Lara could feel it, like electric, crackling through the air.

Lara watched the forest carefully, half expecting to see fairies or pixies darting about between the trees.

They drove past the forest into an open field.

Roth and Lord Croft unpacked the car, and Richard carried Lara over to the dig site.

'Daddy, can I dig?' Lara asked loudly, staring down at the hole.

'Here you go.' Roth handed her a trowel and a brush.

Lara leapt down from her father's arms and Roth showed her how to dig for artefacts, while Richard continued their dig.

'Dig carefully, girl, and if you find anything, brush the dirt away from on top of it with this,' Roth explained.

'Got it,' Lara smiled and started digging, eagerly but carefully.

Roth left her to it, and joined Richard at the other side of the excavation.  
'She is definitely a Croft,' Roth chuckled to Lord Croft. 'You should see her dig.'

Lord Croft laughed as he looked over at the hunched figure of his daughter, crouched over the pile of dirt.

Lara dug down deeper and deeper, not discouraged by the growing mound of dirt beside her, and the complete lack of anything to show for all her work. She continued happily, carefully pulling dirt out of her way until something caught her eye, glinting amongst the earth.

Carefully, she brushed the earth from on top of it to reveal a necklace on an ancient, brown leather strap. In the middle of the necklace hung a cloudy, pale green gem, easily as big as Lara's fist.

She held it up in front of her, twisting and turning it, trying to catch a proper glimpse of it in the soft moonlight.

'Father!' she yelled, scrambling to her feet, clutching the leather strap tightly in her fist.

'Father!' Lara ran across the excavation pit, screaming and holding the necklace out in front of her. It flailed through the air as she ran towards the last place she had seen the two men.

'Father!' Lara screamed again.

'Whoa, whoa, what it is, Lara?' Roth appeared from inside one of the tents, catching her arm as she went to run past him.

'Look! Look!' Lara shouted ecstatically, waving the necklace in Roth's face.  
Gently, he took it from her hands and admired it in the orange light from the lamp inside the tent.

'Where did you find this?' he asked quietly, staring awestruck at the beautiful green gem.

'Over there.' She pointed behind her to the pile of earth she had created in her own excavation.

'Richard!' Roth hollered over his shoulder. 'Croft, come here!'

'What? What is it?' Lord Croft stumbled outside from the tent.

'Look what your daughter found,' Roth said, handing him the necklace.  
Richard gasped quietly as he looked at it.

'Wow,' he breathed out. 'I knew this site was it. I knew it, Roth!'

'Of course you did, but it was your daughter's instincts that found the artefacts, not yours this time,' Roth laughed, nudging his friend's shoulder playfully.

'Well, what did you expect? She's a young Croft; she's got great instincts,' Richard laughed back.

'Here, girl. Finders keepers,' Roth said, handing the necklace back over to her.

Lara put it over her head and lifted her long, brown hair from under the leather strap.

The milky green gem stood out against the white background of her penguin pyjamas, even in the weak moonlight.

Lara twisted the gem, admiring her new adornment.

'I found you,' she whispered beneath her breath. Her eyes sparkled happily as she admired the necklace, and the two men chuckled quietly.

'That's the same look you get when you find something,' Roth told Lord Croft. 'That girl has got your instincts. Maybe even improved them,' he added jokingly.

'Yes, I agree,' Lord Croft smiled fondly at Lara.

'So have we got you hooked too, Lara? Are you going to be an archaeologist?' Roth asked.

Never glancing up from the necklace, Lara shook her head.

'No?' Roth and Richard chorused in surprise.

'No,' Lara said firmly. She glanced up to the men, who stared at her with confused, slightly bemused expressions.

She elaborated. 'I'm going to be a tomb raider.'


End file.
